@xin-li they look pretty great!! My main concern on the character consistency would just be the face in the first illo, it looks a bit more round while the others square off a bit more on the sides. Also I think the eyes are bigger in protein there than in the others.
You could always try overlapping the images with one of them at 50% opacity (or more) and check details that way!
The little girl looks especially cute!

@JudeKillory Thanks for the new feedback Jude! I agree about Bongo - he is too flat for sure - he is mostly a place holder at the moment but possibly close to the final silhouette - i will keep your feedback in mind!

Thank you guys so much for your input! Here's a WIP of what I have so far. Is the setting clear? Does the height look appropriate? Do the figures look like they are relating to the perspective appropriately?

Erin I love the way the alligator's body is constructed, that's some nice drawing. Having read the story I knew what was happening but if I were looking at the image on it's own I would not know what is going to happen next- the alligator clamps down on the monkey and eats it while laughing or the monkey that is laughing jumps out of the alligator's mouth and runs off. I think an easy solution would be showing some of the monkey in the air having escaped the the alligator's reach. excited to see what's next.

Thank you all for your thoughtful and amazingly quick responses!
@carlianne
Thank you for sharing your reactions and opinions - It never occurred to me that it could be rude to make an edit and I appreciate the refreshing and humble perspective. Others have mirrored similar sentiments to not make changes. Messages from colleagues also mention it reminded them of a nostalgic moment so it seems to have struck a sentimental chord of some sort.
@TessaW
I appreciate the time you've taken to not only read but extensively bullet suggestions and improvements. Thank you! Your comments reinforcing my own suspicions of problems and possible solutions feels really encouraging and gives me more confidence in my 'eye'. I didn't think of changing the direction of the arches - it opens up a new way to look at the composition for sure. As for the sky - while I do like it, I agree that time of day is vague. I never solved that problem and it shows. That said, I'm glad it can take you back to a (good?) memory. I'll endeavor pay more attention to establishing time of day more clearly going forward. Again, more food for thought and it is very helpful.
@Rachel Horne
Thank you for your input and thoughts - it supports the reigning opinion that it should remain as is contest-wise. Your kind and supportive response is heartwarming and I'm glad I went ahead and took the scary step to post for feedback.
Thank you all for a welcoming experience.

Adding the principles from the class to my daily practice of the masters! Naming the pose while doing these is a game changer!!! Learning so much more then I was before while doing these! I can see how they used the action to lead all of their discussions!

Elena, I am late to this discussion, but just wanted to encourage you as well. In addition to what the others said, I see where your work fits into the Italian illustration continuum and also know the particular challenges of finding paying work in Italy. But you also have an advantage over a lot of Italian illustrators: Your excellent English is going to be a big help in entering into a much bigger, international market. But you probably already know that, since you are here!
I know that some European illustrators have been told that their work fits into a particular culture, so it at least helps to be aware of the differences. Then you can modify your style, or not, as you wish. At least it would help you decide who to pitch to.
I am not as far along in my journey as some of the others, but along with the others I would like to encourage you to find other illustrator friends in real life. Have you ever attended courses specifically for book illustration here in Italy, for example? I do think it helps! Along those lines, now that the regions are back open, we are not far apart and could meet now and then!

Thanks @Neha-Rawat for your really generous reply! Nice to meet you too.
Considering your feedback, I'm going to stick with the original "normal" background. I guess it was naive of me, but I thought if I plopped an ocean there it would read as a more fantastical story. But I'm happy with a slice-of-life story where a man tries to take his dog out for a walk on a rainy day.
Thank you so much again for taking the time to review my work and write such a thoughtful response.

Hi everyone!
Exploration ideas that I played around with on the illustration, I decided to go with (E).
History of the main idea for the illustration:
I wanted the illustration to be a positive Isolation
Did some research about all the animals that were used on early space projects, sadly most of the animals died, until Ham the chimp,
''the first hominid launched into space. On January 31, 1961, Ham flew on the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission, part of the U.S. space program's Project Mercury''
according to Wikipedia
Wanted to make a character that people could associate with and also be believable
Like Ham the space chimp was the first Chimp that flew to outer space and came back before humans, Zed was the first chimp on Mars before humans.
I picked Mars because the red planet has been one of human beans fantasy for many years, and also because it takes seven months to get there, imaging been that far away from civilization and getting any type of help.
anyways, Just wanted to share some of my workflow with all of you, this illustration was a lot of work, but very fun to make.
Be safe out there
and my God bless you!

I did some Clone Wars fan art of Obi Wan Kenobi
It just sort of came out in this style. I love the angle and tried doing a flickering/power effect for the lightsaber. I’ll upload those files when the Wordpress upload cooperates.

@theprairiefox thank you for these notes! I changed my mind around 100 times regarding the composition and eventually submitted the simpler version without the aquariums, but it's true that they were additional contextual clues... I really don't know, I just felt like the simpler composition was more suited for the 'isolation' prompt and conveyed the message in a better way. As for the readability of the hand, I added a little bit of white around it and drew the other hand pressed on the glass as well...I am still not 100% satisfied with it, but I think it reads slightly better now.

@Braden-Hallett Fascinating! Do you often hate your pieces by the end? I sometimes wonder if working hard to finish a piece in time inclines us hate it, and what we can do about that. That said, you are about ten times quicker than I am!
I love the Go, Dog! Go! "big dog party" aspect of this one, and I identify strongly with the child in the tree house. In fact, I strongly suspect that someone is about to come ask him/her why he doesn't go join the fun and thus ruin his peace . Great work, as usual!

@TessaW & @Braxton thanks for the responses. I have to agree that I think the prairie has a more isolating feel. I am going to go with that one.
I did retake the picture one last time (I thought the girl wasn't straight enough. Here is the 'final final'!